The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights A Critical Approach to Advocacy [Paperback]

This volume focuses on challenges to the effective and proper use of human rights and tries to identify, through a series of case studies, strategies and contexts in which human rights advocacy can work in favor of human rights, as well as situations in which such advocacy may backfire, or unintentionally cause harm.1. On the Uses and Misuses of Human Rights; George Andreopoulos and Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, 2. 'Gay Rights are Human Rights': The Framing of New Interpretations of International Human Rights Norms; Ronald Holzhacker 3. The Politics of a Strange Right: Consultation, Mining and Indigenous Mobilization in Latin America; Amanda M. Fulmer 4. The Price of Confrontation: International Retributive Justice and the Struggle for Haitian-Dominican Rights; Samuel Martinez 5. The Human Rights Framing of Maternal Health: A Strategy for Politicization or a Path to Genuine Empowerment?; Candace Johnson and Surma Das 6. Arms Transfers and the Human Rights Agenda; Susan Waltz 7. Transitional Justice and Injustice: The Uses and Misuses of the Liberal Peace; Cyanne E. Loyle and Christian Davenport 8. Constituencies of Compassion: The Politics of Human Rights and Consumerism; Joel R. Pruce

The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights contributes invaluably to a more critical and complex understanding of human rights advocacy. In a world of violence, we are used to being critical of human rights abusers, but rarely do we question the advocates themselves or their strategies. This project's focus on the uses, abuses, and misuses of human rights (including the complexities of 'framing') is long overdue, especially given its nuanced analysis and policy implications. Through a series of fascinating cases, the authors offer a non-apologetic, balanced look at the achievements and challenges of human rights advocacy in today's world. - Sonia Cardenas, Trinity College, USA

'In this ground-breaking volume, Andreopoulos and Arat have gathered an impressive group of lÓo